HURRICANE, Utah, Jan. 13, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a Hurricane businessman for insurance arson after he allegedly burned a company boat and trailer.
Key evidence in the case was using GPS tracking information for the rental truck allegedly used in the boat burning to place Joseph Brad Arave, 49, and the truck, at the scene, according to a sheriff’s press release. Arave’s business, Utah Epic Rentals, rents out vehicles.
The boat-burning came Nov. 6, shortly after midnight, in a remote area of Warner Valley, south of Hurricane. A camper in the area who reported the fire recalled seeing a truck towing the boat an hour before the blaze, then seeing the truck heading in the opposite direction boat-less 15-20 minutes after he called 911.
The boat, estimated at $100,00 in value and the trailer, deputies found were registered to Arave’s business. When contacted, he claimed he didn’t know the boat was missing and suggested it had been stolen, according to the sheriff’s press release on Arave’s arrest Thursday.
Detectives found Arave had submitted a $100,000 insurance claim for the boat and trailer and had been stopped and cited for speeding in the rental truck the day after the fire by a Hurricane officer.
When deputies arrested Arave, a substance identified as methamphetamine was found in his possession, according to the sheriff’s office, which subsequently learned Arave has an active warrant for alleged fraud out of California, from which he has fled.
He was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility, Washington County’s jail, on charges of arson with intent to defraud an insurer, a second-degree felony, and misdemeanor counts of possession and providing false information to law enforcement.
